The Cave
by Hyliaes
Summary: Brooke and Zach discover a cave that seems to lead to different worlds. They find themselves in Cyrodiil, and are forced to adapt to a new life.
1. The Cave

First, a few warnings. One, I am going to write this story using only the world of Cyrodiil. I am going to write this as if the game never was made. You will not see many characters that exist in the game, and i will change certain elements of the game to make it more realistic. EX: children, population, etc. I know this first chapter doesnt have a lot to do with Cyrodiil, but all chapters after this will be set exclusively in the game world.

Besides Brooke and Zach, (I just decided to use me and my girlfriend for the main characters, does that make me lazy?) and the cave itself, Everything in this belongs to Bethesda Softworks...blah blah blah why do i even have to put this?

Enjoy! hopefully anyways...

* * *

June 21, the day everything changed. The day we found the cave. The cave that made two worlds one, and thrust us into a land we could not possibly have imagined. I don't even remember how long ago it was. Time…time doesn't work here like it does back home. In those first few weeks after arriving, we noticed it as a sort of jet lag. Eventually we adjusted, though.

I remember that hot day so well, better than any other memory. Brooke was wearing her favorite outfit, a bright orange Hollister shirt and Abercrombie jeans. I remember telling her that's it was ridiculous, to be wearing such an outfit for hiking. She just told me she wanted to look good. I didn't argue, I never argued back then. Me, I was sensible, I wore sturdy jeans and a zip-up light jacket over my only concession to Brookes need for fashion, a purple, tight fitting shirt. The shirt that most likely saved us from lives as beggars.

We were hiking for her birthday. She had always wanted to, and I saw no reason to deprive her of her dreams. We chose some mountains upstate; they were good spots, a lack of dangerous animals, and most importantly, not many people went there. This was the first thing Brooke said when she began to plan our trip. "I want us to be alone together, I want to feel the silence, and I want to be away from everyone." This seemed odd right away to me. She had always been a party girl, never wanting to stay in one place, always around people. I accepted it as one of those things where people deviate from their patterns and need something different. So I found the spot, and three days later, we headed out in my car on our little adventure.

* * *

"Zach, wake up! You said we were going to head out first thing!"

"Ah, right. Just one more minute," I responded unhappily. I didn't see why we had to go out at dawn, but Brooke wanted it, and this was her trip, so I hauled myself out of sleep, and put on my clothes. We had decided once we got to the woods at the base of the mountain to sleep in the car and then head out.

I put on my shoes and urinated in some bushes, then headed back to the car to pack my backpack. Surprised, I saw Brooke with her pack on her shoulders, ready to go. She had my pack all ready by her feet. I picked it up, checked the contents (earning a slightly hurt look from Brooke, who had always been very responsible with packing), and put it on my shoulders. I turned around and said, "Great, let's start our…" I stopped. Brooke was staring up at the mountain with an exited look on her face. "Wha…" I managed to get out before she pointed up at something. I looked, and saw it. The cave. It was small, but only a short distance up and it seemed to be accessible. "Oh my goodness, do you see that?" Brooke asked. I just continued staring. There was something off about the cave. It almost seemed blurry around the edges, and it attracted my gaze, as if I couldn't look away. Then I noticed something else. The darkness inside seemed to move, almost, shifting when I looked directly at it.

I turned away quickly, and faced Brooke, who was practically jumping with excitement. "We have to explore it," she said "this is going to be so much fun, I can't wait!"

"I don't know, there might be bears or something around it," I stammered out.

"What, are you scared?" she teased. "Come on, this is MY hike, and I am going into that cave, whether you come with me or not.

That was it for me; there was no way I could let her do this by herself. We had been together for more than a year now and there was no way I could forgive myself if something happened to her. I agreed to go, and we started up the mountain.

When we reached the cave an hour later, we stopped outside the entrance. As we approached it, we both noticed the effect the cave had on the surroundings. There were no animals, the wind didn't seem to blow, and even the trees looked like stone. The sun had stopped being warm and now only radiated cold light. And then there was the hum. I was sure we both could hear it, now and again Brooke would look of into the distance or turn around, presumably trying to locate the source of the eerie, haunting tone. And then there was the cave itself. Now it was almost right in front of us, and we could clearly see that it was not a normal feature. It was creepily dark inside, although now I could not see the movements I had seen at the car. However, now we could see other things wrong with the gaping maw. Around the edges of the cave there was a weird distortion…as if the cave was giving off a heat wave. There was no way that was causing the rippling effect, though; the cave seemed to be emanating cold. I have never felt anything like it, as if there was a breeze originating from somewhere inside.

Then Brooke started in. I didn't try to stop her; I was as drawn to the dark interior as much as she was. We stepped inside, and immediately the darkness lifted, the cold ended, and the humming noise stopped. The cave almost seemed to start glowing, but this was most likely just our eyes adjusting to the quick change. We looked around, surprised. Neither of us really knew what had drawn us into the cave, but there was a strange sense of finality to it. I don't think we could have gone back the way we came even if we had tried.

Still without a word, we moved deeper into the abyss. Now the cave did not seem as frightening, it almost had a welcoming quality to it, not once were we concerned about the threat of large animals. Or even of things more sinister.

The walls were featureless rock, and were pretty uniform; they didn't change in size or appearance. At least not yet. The floor was even, with a few bumps and cracks. I remember remarking about the generally smooth passage the cave offered us, but I got no reply. It seemed as if the cave were like a church, or a funeral, a place of hushed voices and quiet contemplation.

The first change we noticed was a sharp widening of the corridor into a large chamber. Here the cave began to get darker. We could barely make out a faint shape about ten feet in front of us. As we approached, we realized it was a large obelisk, with numerous inscriptions on its three sides. We stopped and stared in amazement. "How did this get here? What is it?" I asked. "I have no idea," Brooke responded, "Wait, I can just make out the words on this side" She was staring at the side of the obelisk facing the tunnel we had just come through. I looked closer also and saw what it said.

"Along this path lies the world as it should be, uncorrupted, but by no means pure"

The rest of it I couldn't read. I had no idea what that meant, but it almost sounded like it was describing the outside world. It seemed odd to me. To reach this place, one must have come from the outside, so who could benefit from the message.

As I was pondering this, Brooke was reading the other sides. I went over to her to see if I could make any of it out.

One side read: "_Beyond this path lies the world as it will be, scarred, and on the brink of collapse. Traveler, be warned that this is your f_..."

It was all I could make out. When I looked in the far side of the room, I could just make out a faint glowing, presumably from the path the obelisk mentioned.

On the final side of the obelisk were numerous runes and symbols I could not decipher. This confused me, if the other two sides were in English, why not this one?

Just then I realized that Brooke was nowhere to be seen. I started panicking, and fished the flashlight I had forgotten we had out of the pack, and swept it around the room. As I passed the corner the second side of the obelisk faced, I found her making her way into an opening much like the one we had come through.

"Brooke, you can't wander away from me, this place…there's something wrong here, I don't think we should be separated."

"But Zach, I think I have an idea what this place might be, and if I'm right, we have found something amazing! Follow me through this tunnel, if what I think is true, we will reach another opening to the outside. If I'm wrong, we can go back and forget about this place.

It sounded like a good plan to me. I just wanted this to be over, the hypnotic spell the cave had put on me seemed to be wearing off, and I was starting to get freaked out. I sighed, and followed her into the second tunnel.

This one was slightly different from the one we had entered in. The walls were more jagged, and had an almost reddish tint to them. However, the walls were just as featureless, and we saw noting of importance until we reached the end.

I had expected to see another opening, maybe a dead end. What I didn't expect was a door, supposedly leading to the outside. It was metal, with a few cracks where light seeped in. Right in front of the door, there was two or three empty tin cans.

"I guess we aren't the first to find this cave, darn. I'll bet that thing back in the big chamber is just some art project or something like that," I said, confident that we could now go back to the car.

"Wait!" Brooke called, as I turned to head back, "Look at the light!"

At first I didn't know what she meant. Then, looking back at the door, I noticed that there was indeed something wrong with the daylight shining through. It has a strange quality to it, it almost looked…sick. It had been a while since we arrived, so at first I thought it was just the change from morning to afternoon sun, but as I got closer I noticed something else too. Through the cracks in the door, I could see bits of the outside, and it looked like there was just barren rock and sky.

Brooke looked excitedly at me, then went to open the door. "Stop," I told her suddenly. "Why?" she asked with an annoyed look on her face. "I…I don't know, never mind."

I had suddenly got a very bad feeling about what lied on the outside of this cave. I was beginning to get a vague understanding of what she thought this place to be. I buried those feelings under common sense, though, and stood by her as she opened the door.

"Oh my god"

We had both said it at the same time.

Outside the door was a barren expanse of land, devoid of any life, spare a few tree trunks and some scraggly weeds. I realized the source of the strange sunlight when I looked up to see a cloudy, hazy, and as I noticed before, sick-looking sky. Not only did it look poisoned, it had a greenish tint to it, as if the clouds were carrying acid, instead of water. Off in the distance we could make out what looked like a farmhouse, but a farmhouse that had been completely destroyed in some sort of explosion.

I gasped when I saw something else. What appeared to be a giant scorpion was lying, dead, close to the entrance to the cave. It was at least five feet long, and looked just like a normal scorpion, albeit bigger and like everything else in this world, had a sickly tint to it.

Overcome by a sense of something horribly wrong, I slammed the door to block the terrible view.

"I don't understand," I said "what happened, it was fine when we came in, and we cant be more than half a mile from our entrance? And did you see that _thing_! What was that?! What is this place?"

"Well," she responded, "I think I may be right about what this place is. I believe that somehow, this cave acts as a sort of portal between separate realities. What we saw out there was a different version of our world, one that (judging from the inscription on that statue thing) is the future of our version of earth. I don't understand how this is possible, but I'm almost sure this is what this cave is all about. If we go down that third tunnel, we will find another version."

I just gaped at her. "No, that's impossible, its ridiculous, you need to stop reading those crap science fiction books. That kind of stuff doesn't exist."

"Well, how do explain what we just saw? The landscape looked like it was hit by a nuke or something, and I know you saw that scorpion thing. Also, I just realized something. We had to climb a mountain to get to this cave, yet when we go out this entrance, were on flat ground? We haven't found any slope in this cavern whatsoever. How is that possible?"

For some reason, this last argument put me past my doubts. I started to realize that, however crazy this was, right now I had to just accept it. "Ok, Brooke, if that's the case, what do we do now? I'm sure as hell not going back out into that wasteland, and we cant go back home."

"Why do you say that?"

"Come on, I know you've felt that same way ever since we came in here." It was true; going into this cave had a sense of finality to it. Whatever we did, we weren't going back any time soon.

"I guess I know that," Brooke responded. "So lets head over to the third tunnel, we can see for sure if I'm right."

I saw no reason to be worried about this, so far we haven't been hurt, and it was actually sounding kind of fun, exploring new world, insane as it sounds. We went back to the main chamber, forgetting about the wasteland behind us. We quickly located the third tunnel, made sure it was the right one, and started down it.

This one was also slightly different. The smooth walls were moist, and now and again we saw clusters of large mushrooms. This tunnel also had a more friendly quality to it, unlike the Wasteland exit, or our entrance. We actually laughed and joked about how weird it was, being in this situation.

About five minutes after entering, we saw the exit to our tunnel. Like the second, this one was blocked off by a door, this time a wooden, rickety one. Through its numerous holes and gaps, we saw a starry night sky, which crushed any doubts about this being another separate world. We heard crickets, or some other type of insect, chirping through the door, and a cool breeze wafted through onto our faces. It had a very sweet taste and smell to it, it was flowery, but now like any flower I've ever smelt.

Just as we went to open this new door something that had been in the back of my mind, but not fully thought out, came rushing forward.

"Wait, Brooke, remember the obelisk? On this side, there were only those weird curly symbols."

"Yeah, I remember, I hadn't thought about it. They didn't look like anything to me, were they familiar to you?" I shook my head no. "Well, if we decide to go exploring, well find out, I guess."

I thought it over, and come to the conclusion that there was no reason to let some weird inscription impede our progress. Our journey had a feeling of importance now, and urgency.

"Ready?" she asked. "Let's do it" I said.

This time we both pulled on the rickety door at the same time. A rush of the sweet smelling air, and the outside was open to us to view.

Again, this exit was on the ground, and this world, though dark from the night, almost seemed identical to ours. We appeared to be in the middle of a forest of tall, thick trees. Around the mouth of the cave were numerous blue and red flowers, presumably the source of the seductive scent. I could barely make out a small path leading away from the opening of the cave into the forest, where it disappeared into the darkness.

I looked at Brooke, who was staring off into the night with an almost disappointed look on her face. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, it just seems exactly like our world, besides the weird flowers. I expected an alien planet or something."

I laughed and hugged her, saying "Only you would be disappointed with something so crazy and mind blowing as this cave"

She laughed and brushed me off. "Okay, if were done making fun of me, lets go outside, it seems safe enough."

"I don't know, are you sure, we're not sure if there are any animals or anything."

"I'm sure, lets go." She stepped out side and immediately stopped and turned around. "Oh my god, come out here, see if you can feel it too. Oh my, I feel so…so powerful almost. I feel like I'm being charged with electricity or something."

"What do you mean? Are you ok?" She nodded yes.

I nervously stepped into the dark, and was overcome with a tingling sensation that spread from my toes through to the ends of my hair. I could feel something, energy, surging through my chest and arms. "Wow that feels amazing, what is it?"

"I don't know," she said with a huge smile on her face, "but isn't it wonderful?" I agreed, and a few seconds later the euphoria faded. The tingling remained, though, but not as noticeable.

"That was so weird," I said, "Do you think it would have happened if we had gone out that other door?"

When I got no answer, I turned to look at her and saw her staring at the night sky. She looked at me, and pointed straight up, with a terrified look on her face.

Suddenly apprehensive for the first time since entering the third tunnel, I slowly looked up, and saw what had left her speechless.

There were two moons.


	2. Morning

The two moons hung directly overhead, ludicrously large and shimmering. One was a bit larger than the moon which was familiar to us, and had the same color and cratered appearance. The other was huge, at least 3 times the size of its companion, and was dull red. My first thought was that it was Mars, somehow pushed into Earth orbit, but then I realized how ridiculous that idea was. Whatever this monstrosity was, it could never exist if the same physics that governed our Earth applied here. It would have just crashed into the planet we were standing on.

Besides the moons, the night sky had a few other glaring differences form our own. There were millions of more stars than back home, which led me to believe that this world had no big cities, or the light pollution would have blacked out most of the points of light. Also, I found none of the familiar constellations we had back home. I eventually came to the conclusion that we had not only left our version of Earth, but we had left Earth entirely.

I felt myself beginning to lose my grip on reality, so I forced myself to look away from the alien sky and turn to Brooke. I gave a start when I found that she had left my side and returned to the door we had come out of. I realized I hadn't looked back at the exit once since we arrived. Looking back, I noticed we had come out of a small rocky mound, much too small to house the cavern we had just been in. I pushed this thought to the back of my mind, it was no time to think about how that was possible.

Brooke was standing by the wooden door, struggling with it. "It won't open," I said, with complete confidence in my words. I had known before we had left that we would not be going back, but the thought didn't bother me until now.

"I know, but I can't just accept that!" Brooke practically screamed at me. I noticed she had tears in her eyes. This was bad; she never got upset, she just always took things in stride, choosing to calmly deal with whatever problem she encountered. To see her on the brink of hysterics like this was unbearable. I pulled her away from the door and we sat down on the grass.

"We need to talk about this. We both know we aren't going back home, we're not going to dwell on that, or we will both go insane. We need to think about what we're going to do now. Whatever this place is, I'm starting to think it's not Earth. That means we seriously need to consider the fact that we might have to really search for something to eat or drink, and we also need to think about shelter, too. We can't do anything else until we find water, though. I think we should head out as soon as we can. We're not going to go while its still dark though, we don't know if there's wild animals or…" I stopped, but she knew the real reason I didn't want to go out at night. It was the twin moons, neither of us wanted to walk through the thick woods with those globes hanging over our heads.

She was still crying, but she was quieter now, and she seemed like she was going to be ok. "Alright," she said, "were going to do those things in the morning, if there is going to be a morning. Have you considered that? Maybe this place is always dark."

I hadn't thought of that. "Ok, that's a possibility, but right now we need sleep, if we wake us and it's still not light, we can head out and assume the worst. I think we should sleep in shifts, it's too dangerous to have both of us asleep at the same time."

She had stopped crying, and looked like she was feeling better about things. She liked to have a solid plan. "Ok then, you're right, we'll talk about this more in the morning. I'm going to take first shift."

"No," I insisted, "you need more sleep than me, and besides, I want to take a look at the door."

"Ok," she conceded, "but please be careful, I don't know what I'd do if I woke up and you were gone. I don't think I could handle this alone. Goodnight, Zach. I love you"

"I love you too." I kissed her goodnight, and she fell asleep immediately. Ok, I thought, now let's have a look at that door.

I walked up to it and inspected it. Although inside we had noticed that the door was rickety and holey, outside it looked brand new and in good shape. I saw no crevices to peek in, and no cracks around the edge to wedge it open. There was a metal bar hammered to it to use as a handle, so I pulled on that. Nothing, there was no give whatsoever. I tried pushing to the same result. Stranger, I saw no locking mechanism; it was like someone had glued it shut while we were occupied with the tingling and the moons.

This thought brought me back to those strange sensations we had experienced upon stepping through the door. Still I could feel the dull throbbing that had been so intense at first. It was a good sensation, like what I imagine holding a gun would feel. It was a feeling of power, of control, of strength. I had no idea what it meant, but it didn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon, so I decided I would ponder it later. I went and sat down on a small mound of dirt and looked around.

We appeared to be in a small clearing in the middle of a thick wood. The trees were of the earth variety; this at least was some comfort that we would be able to find food. Feeling daring, I walked to the edge of the trees, keeping an eye out for animals, and found a rather large flower. Attached to it were several tasty looking seeds. I decided I would eat one or two, and then wait to see if there were any side-effects.

I walked back over to where Brooke lay and sat down next to her. Felling more nervous now, I grabbed two of the seeds and chewed them. They had a nutty taste, and we actually not bad. I swallowed them and closed my eyes. I felt a strange tingle spread over my skin. I opened my eyes and prepared to force myself to vomit, thinking the seeds were poisoning me, but stopped when I saw what was happening to me.

I was glowing. It was faint and greenish, but it was definitely there. About 5 feet in either direction was softly lit by the light coming seemingly from my pale skin.

I didn't know what to do, should I panic? Should I wake Brooke up? What was I supposed to make of this? Fortunately, after about a minute, the light faded as quickly as it had appeared. Experimenting, I ate a few more of the seeds, and the light, as I had expected, came back and went away after exactly 57 seconds. So the seeds were some kind of magic light seeds. Again I found myself pushing the thoughts I found undesirable to the back of my mind.

I went back to the plant, got a few more of the tiny brown seeds, and put them in my pocket, intending to show Brooke when she woke.

I didn't have to wait long. After about 15 minutes, she opened her eyes and asked if it was morning yet. "No," I replied, "but I think the sky is getting lighter." It was true, I hadn't noticed until she asked, but off in one direction the sky was beginning to lose its perfect blackness. I felt relieved at this; it meant we weren't stuck in a terminally dark world. Brooke seemed happy also, she jumped up and told me to get some rest while she kept an eye out for anything.

I was about to lie down when I realized I was completely awake. It had been most likely half a day since we set out in the morning, yet I felt like I had woken up from a full nights sleep. I was mystified until I felt the seeds in my pocket. Along with the light, they must have some sort of wakefulness effect. I laughed at the absurdity of this, and walked over to Brooke to tell her I would stay up with her and to show her the seeds.

After a swallowed a few and showed off my glowing body she told me she wanted to try some. I gave her a couple and she ate them, and a few seconds later started glowing much the same as I had.

"Oh my, this is certainly different," she said with a perplexed look, "I feel like a lightning bug!" I laughed at this, mostly because it seemed like a good comparison.

We spent the rest of the early hours discussing out situation. Brooke was convinced that we would eventually come across people who could help us. I was more hesitant. I thought that if we were on an alien planet, as evidenced by the giant moons and bioluminescent plants, then it was likely that there would be some kind of alien creatures.

We continued to argue about what we should focus on until it got light enough to properly see around us. The woods were not as thick as they had seemed, and we could actually see a lake or river right across from the door to the cave. We also saw some hills beyond that, which appeared to be free of trees. We decided to make one of the hills our destination, thinking we would be able to get a better view of where we could go.

We started moving once the sun (which thankfully was like our own) fully shone through the tops of the trees. In the light of day, this place took on a different mood. While the night was mysterious and dangerous, the day was calm, and very friendly. I didn't feel threatened whatsoever, and the magic that we had experienced was a distant memory.

We reached what turned out to be a small pond in a short time, and found our way around it. We walked for a bit, and started up one of the hills. About halfway up we noticed something in the distance. At first all we could see was what looked like a spire rising out of the top of the hill. Then, as we got higher, it revealed itself to be a gigantic tower far off in the distance.

"Well," Brooke said with a smirk, "that settles the question of whether there are people here" When we finally got to the top of the hill, we were able to fully take in the magnificent sight.

Miles away, the tower stood watch over what appeared to be…well there was no other word for it. It was a city. We were able to make out numerous sections walled off from each other, and two smaller towers connected to the main circle by bridges. The city stood on an island in a large body of water, and unless it was connected to land on the far side of where we stood, there was no way to get there, except by boat. I didn't understand at first what made me uneasy about it, but it slowly dawned on me. If the city had walls, then it must be to keep things out. I looked around nervously, almost expecting to see some horror barreling up the slope at us. I laughed and went back to inspecting the city. One thing was for sure, it was most definitely not from our time. For one, it obviously had no electric lights; we would have noticed the glow from our camp. Two, the way it was built, and the few structures we could see within, suggested a medieval castle.

"What do you think, Brooke? Should we make that our goal? I really don't see any good way of getting there, I mean we aren't exactly up for a swim."

"I know, but look at it, it's the best chance we have of finding people, and shelter, and some explanation about what we've experienced." Suddenly she turned around and blurted, "I wonder what they call it here?"

"We just call it the Imperial City," shouted a voice from behind us.


	3. Not Alone

I froze. Five things went flashing through my mind, one after the other.

One: The voice was deep, male, and confident.

Two: It spoke English, but with an unidentifiable accent.

Three: Although I was not sure, it sounded like the voice was coming from about five feet behind us.

Four: We had not heard anything approach, so whoever this was, they were good at not being noticed.

And finally: No matter how scared I was at the moment, as soon as I heard the voice, I felt like I could trust whoever it was, they were friendly.

Feeling this, I turned around to look at the person who had spoken. I saw that Brooke had already been looking at him.

He was human, that was a relief, at least. He was tall, with pale skin and dark, almost black, hair. His features were handsome, but had an edge to them, one that caused a small twinge in my stomach. I would have put him at maybe twenty, maybe more. This was a man who had been through many hardships, it was obvious. His eyes were bight green, and had a curious glint in them. He wore a light gray shirt with black, loose pants. His shoes were cloth. The clothing had an old-fashioned look to it, it was handmade, that was for sure. This served to further reinforce the idea that we were in some kind of twisted middle age version of Earth. He also had a dagger in a sheath on his hip. He made no effort to hide this, was it some kind of threat?

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

"Wait, let me go first." He said, in his soothing, deep voice. "I'm sure you two are confused about what's happened to you. I'm a friend, I'm here to help you two. My name is Cassius Olcinius. I'm part of a small group of people who help people like you, people who came through the cave."

I was surprised; I had gotten the feeling that the cave was a one time thing, something that would disappear when we were done. To think that other people had come through was comforting. Even more so was the fact that there were people who wanted to help us, and that understood our situation.

He continued when we said nothing. "Yes, I know how you got here. When I saw you two on the hill, I knew immediately you were not of this world. Your clothing is evidence of that. I would like to take you to a place where we can discuss your situation, and arrange for us to help you acclimate yourselves to Cyrodiil." I gave a small start when he said that word; it was an unexpected relief to know the name of the place we were trapped in. He continued, ignoring my expression of surprise. "You two will not be going back to your world, I assume you already know that." I nodded; I looked over at Brooke for the first time since he started talking, and saw her standing with her eyes closed. She was smiling slightly. I took this to be a good sign, and turned back to the man. "Yes, we know." I said. "Good," said Cassius, "You are going to have to learn the ways of this world. Come with me, we have a small farm at the base of this hill, there you can meet the rest of us, and we can start explaining things."

I was about to agree, when Brooke spoke up beside me. "Wait, I don't like this, how do we know that you are a friend? Why do you have a dagger there, if not to harm us?"

He frowned, looking confused. "I have this dagger to protect myself. This world has many dangers for the foolish traveler, as you will find out for yourself if you decide to go out in the world unprepared. You need to come with me if you want any chance of surviving this place. Besides, if I were planning of harming you in any way, I would have done so, instead of announcing my presence and talking to you."

Brooke looked at me for support. I shook my head. "He's right, you know, this is our best chance of surviving. Let's go with him."

She looked down and sighed. I took her hand and went up to Cassius. "Alright, let's go."

He nodded seriously and started walking down the slope. We followed after him. At the base of the hill, he paused, looked around, and started off into the woods. His movements were confident; he knew this area well, and that made me more relaxed. The woods were a bit foreboding, and it was a comfort to have someone who knew their way around.

After possibly a half-hour of trudging through the trees, I began to see the first hints of a small house in the distance. Coming closer, I saw it was a small cottage, standing in a large open space bordered by a wooden fence. It was a squat, comfy looking place, and it felt good to see something undeniably human is this world. The three of us went up to the small wood door and Cassius put his hand on the knob. "Alright, there's going to be a few other people in here, and before we go in, I'm going to warn you about one of them. Her name is Tsajadhi, and she is not like you or me. Here we have many different races, and there are a few that are very different from people like us. I'm telling you this so you don't panic or start in motion a bad situation. Do you understand?"

"Wait," Brooke said, "What is she then, if not human?"

"She is a Khajiit, a race of catlike beings. They have feline features, tails, and fur. Do not worry about being rude or staring.. Tsajadhi will understand."

I was slightly more nervous about going in now. I didn't know what to expect.

He looked at us to make sure we were ready, then opened the door and beckoned us in. Inside I saw three beds, a small fireplace with shelved for cooking, and a table with three sets of plates on it. There were windows on the far wall, through which I saw the field behind the house. I stepped in, and looked around further. In one corner stood a man, with dark skin and a kind face. He wore the same kind of plain clothes as Cassius and was looking at us with a small smile. "My, my, Cassius, you've done it again. So how are we going to cook them this time?" His voice was light, and sounded like he was trying to contain his laughter.

Cassius gave us a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't say that, Nanniton. This one," he put his hand on Brooke's shoulder, "put up a bit of a fight. She seemed to think I was going to hurt them."

Brooke gave a shy smile and mumbled something with the words "careful" and "precaution" in it. The man walked up to us and shook our hands. "I'm sorry, friends, I didn't mean to scare. Cassius has told you the truth; we're here to help you. My name is Nanniton, as you have probably guessed. I am a Redguard, as Cassius may have explained. Cassius piped up, "We haven't really gone over that yet, I've only explained about Khajiit, to make sure we didn't have a repeat of last time. The other man, Nanniton, gave a shudder at this, which made me wonder about the other people who had come through. I hadn't seen the woman Cassius had spoken of yet; I was starting to become curious about her.

"She's hiding in the cellar. Seemed to think she would frighten the kids. She was probably right, judging by the look of these children."

I gave a small chuckle, and Nanniton looked at me. "Don't worry, friend, although she may look it, she won't bite you. I'm surprised she's survived so long, she would walk up to a bear and give it flowers if it looked nice."

"Do not underestimate her, she can fight when she wants to," Cassius said, "but let's bring her out to meet them. Tsajadhi! You can stop hiding! Come out and meet the newcomers!"

I heard quiet footsteps on the other side of a small door on the wall with the stove. It opened with a creak, and out stepped a tall figure, completely covered with orange and yellow fur. She closed the door behind her, and paused to let us have a look. She had catlike, backwards jointed legs, and clawed feet, or paws. Her face was also feline, with a large pink nose, reminiscent of a lion. Her ears were pointed and were pierced in several places. Hanging from them were jewels of several different types. Her eyes were catlike also, and shone in the dim light of the cottage. She smiled, and we saw she had very sharp teeth, in keeping with the catlike features.

"Hello, I apologize for my startling appearance, and wish to welcome you to Cyrodiil." Her voice was a bit raspy, but had a motherly tone to it. It was a friendly voice, and any misgiving I had about her from her looks were swept away by that voice. She slowly approached us, her smile taking on a concerned look. I realized that in our surprise at her appearance, we hadn't even said hello.

She held out a hand, and it was definitely a hand; this part of her, although still covered in fine fur, was human. I shook it, feeling claws underneath the hair. "Hello," I said with a smile, "my name is Zach, and this is Brooke. I guess you already know how why we are here."

"Yes," she said with a sorrowful expression, "you came through the cave. Oh, and so young. Why did you bother with that horrible thing? No, I'm sorry, its not your fault, we know the kind of power that place contains."

Cassius stopped her. "Now, Tsajadhi, there is no reason to make them feel worse about this situation. Why don't we sit down and talk about things." He motioned at two chairs by the fireplace. Brooke and I sat down. I could tell she was as exited as I to finally get some explanation of the events that happened here.

"I'll start at the beginning, when we found the first traveler who came through," Cassius said, and then proceeded to launch into his story.

"Around 2 years ago, Tsajadhi, Nanniton and I were exploring this area of Cyrodiil. Back then, we were a team of adventurers, who would accept payment to go out and find relics or items that people wanted. At first, we were successful, but later on, we usually ended up on simple missions, like retrieving items that people had left in caves but were too lazy or afraid to get for themselves. This particular mission was an interesting one. We were hired to go to an Ayleid ruin, which I will explain about when the time comes, and get something called a Varla Stone, a powerful object, very rare. Our employer had given us a general idea of where the ruins were, but we had to do some searching to find the place. While doing so, we heard screams in the distance. Curious and slightly worried, I decided to investigate. At first my friends here were hesitant, but I convinced them that we could help someone in need, and they came along. Moving farther into the woods, we heard the cries getting clearer, until we could make out the words. It was someone screaming for help. We started running towards the source of the sound, and came upon a man writhing on the ground. We went to help him, but stopped when we saw his clothes. It was like nothing we had ever seen. He wore some kind of fancy blue jacket and thick black pants. The material it was made of was close to what we have here, but it was different to the point where we knew he wasn't from around here. What really made us uneasy were his shoes. Here we just have simple cloth shoes, his were some hard material, and had harder bottoms. They were a primitive version of the shoes you two are wearing."

At this I realized how different we must look to them. With my zippered jacket, Brookes bight and decorated shirt, and our jeans, we must look like some kind of alien. Which, when I thought about it, we were in a way. I continued listening to Cassius' story.

"So after determining that this man was from some other place, we propped him up against a tree and tried to calm him. He finally stopped struggling and tried to talk to us. We couldn't understand him, he was delirious. He seemed to be talking about a cave and poisonous mushrooms. Then Tsajadhi here gave a brief examination and determined what had happened. The man had somehow been foolish enough to eat a type of mushroom growing in this area. The mushroom is poison, and can cause death within the hour. We had no way to help him, and so we tried to help him be comfortable the best we could. He died shortly after. We went through his pockets and found three things, all of which we had never seen before. There was a small round object, with indecipherable letters around the edge and a needle in the middle that was swinging rapidly around. There was also a pen and some paper, with more symbols we couldn't read. We took the things and went to investigate where the man had come from. We soon came across the cave. It was the same back then as it is now, and I don't think I need to describe to you the attraction we felt to it. We went and took a peek inside, but I stopped us from going in, thinking it was dangerous. It turned out I was right. After I had pulled my companions away from the mouth, we started hearing calls from inside. Soon after, another man, dressed similarly to the one we had met, stumbled out. As he passed thought the door, he stopped and fell to his knees, trembling. We were worried, we didn't know if we could help. Our fears were for naught, however, when we saw the man began to laugh and twirl around. We had no idea what was happening. After a few minutes, the man calmed down and began to look frightened. He started to call a name which I do not remember, presumably his companion. He eventually gave up and sat down. At this point we had decided that one of us would go out and talk to him. I was chosen. I approached and talked to him much the same as I did to you two, and brought my friends out. He was initially surprised by them, especially Tsajadhi. He said something like 'I can understand the slave, but what about the cat-woman?' I told him none of us were slaves, and I explained to him about the beast races of our land. Eventually he seemed to understand about our world, and then told us some things about his. He told us his name, John Frenson, and where he lived, a place called New England. He also told us a date, but we didn't understand. You must use a different system of dating than we do. He said over there the year was seventeen-something. He said he was on an expeditionary mission with his friend, the man we had seen earlier, and that they had went in the cave and found their way here. When asked, we told him what had happened with the man that we had first encountered, he was sad, but got over it quickly. After a short burial, we discussed what he would do. We again explained more things about our world, this time focusing on how he could survive. He ended up following us back to the city you just saw and finding a job at an inn. He died a few years ago."

"That's too bad," Brooke said, "It would have been nice to have someone here with whom we could talk to and understand a bit better about things. There is one thing I don't understand, though. How long ago was all this?" Cassius replied, "3 years, why do you ask?" "Well," Brooke said with a confused look, "He said the year was in the seventeen hundreds, right? Well right now in our world, its 2009. That means our world moves incredibly fast compared to yours."

This time Nanniton spoke. "This is very interesting, Tsajadhi, have you hears about such a thing in your studies?"

"I have not," she said, "but I will be sure to investigate further."

We were silent for a second, and then Cassius spoke again. "Alright, but there is more to tell. You said you wished for someone from your world you could talk to? Well, there was another person who came through. About a year and a half ago, we were exploring the area again. We were walking thought the woods, this time looking for a woman who had gone missing. We were actually a short distance from this farm when Tsajadhi here got a felling we should check out the cave we had found long ago. I at first was against it; I thought we should continue our search for the missing woman. However I was outvoted when Nanniton agreed and we set off in search of the cave. It was easy enough to find, but we found nothing unusual, and were about to leave when a voice called from behind us. 'Stop! I want you to slowly turn around and keep your hands in the air. You, the one with the mask, take it off!' At first I was confused, hearing a woman's voice, I was thinking it was the missing woman, but turning around, I saw this was most certainly not her. It was another person from the cave. She was wearing unfamiliar clothes, tight dark pants, and a tan coat. She had on a strange hat with two circles on the forehead. Looking closer I saw that they were supposed to go over her eyes. I didn't know what purpose they possibly could serve. 'I said take off the mask!' she shrieked again. I had no idea what she meant, neither of us was wearing a mask, but it dawned upon me that if she was from the other world, then she would have never seen someone like Tsajadhi before. 'Please calm down,' I stammered, 'my friend is not like you or me, but she is a friend to the both of us. We would like to help you.' The woman would not listen, though. 'No! You are going to tell me what this place is, and how I got here, and you are going to take off the mask!' She then jumped at Tsajadhi and they fell to the ground, struggling with one another. Tsajadhi is an accomplished fighter, though, and was able to easily subdue the woman. We tried again to calm her, and this time succeeded. After explaining what had happened to her, and where she was, she seemed to be much more receptive, and apologized to Tsajadhi. She accepted the apology, and then took over in explaining what she could do. Then we asked her how she had come to the cave. She tried to tell us she was in a flying machine, a _plain _she called it. She said that her _plain_ had fallen from the sky over an ocean, and she had been left on an island. She had looked around for a way to get help, and found the cave. We asked her more about herself, and she revealed that she was from the year nineteen and thirty seven. She was surprised when we told her about the other men, and when they had come though."

"You haven't told us your name, ma'am," I had said.

She said, "My name is Amelia. Amelia Earhart"


	4. Magic

After we heard that name we could do nothing but stare. It was impossible; the thought of it was too much. How could it be possible for Amelia Earhart, the name we had all heard over and over again in school, and read in so many news stories, to be here? To think that her disappearance could be explained by this place was so fantastic and surreal.

"Is something wrong?" asked Cassius. "You two look strange. Have you heard that name before?"

"Yes, yes we have." Brooke said quietly. "In our world, she was a famous pilot who disappeared trying to cross the ocean. Almost everyone in our country knows her name. It's one of the big mysteries of our time."

"Interesting, perhaps you all can talk soon."

I was surprised, I had been thinking that she would have been dead after all these years, but I had forgotten the differences in the way time moved here. "So she's alive? Where is she?"

"After we explained to her our world, she stayed with us for a month, but then decided she was ready to go on her own. Last we heard from her, she was living in a city called Chorrol. It's far from here, in the Great Forest towards the northwest. We can make that our destination, if you would like."

I was eager to go, but Brooke spoke before I could. "Finish the story first, if you don't mind."

"No problem, but there isn't much more to tell. After our encounter with Amelia, we decided that others were sure to come through. We found a good site, and we built this cottage. Later, we decided to live here all the time, instead of just using it as an outpost. We made a habit of inspecting the cave on our way into town, and from time to time we would find small things that came through. We have a small collection of things downstairs. We always keep anything inanimate, whenever an animal comes; we bury it and forget about it, as they always come through dead. You can see the grave markers out behind the field, at the edge of the forest." We looked, and indeed there were about ten large white stones by the tree line. "We don't get as many objects, though. There are only six different things that we found outside the cave, and most of them are just different types of things we have here in Tamriel."

"Tamriel?" I asked

Tsajadhi smiled. "It's the name of the continent we are on, dear." This was the first thing I had heard from either her or Nanniton since Cassius had begun his story. I took a moment to look at them. Tsajadhi seemed concerned about something; she looked as if she wanted to correct Cassius on some crucial point. I decided I would ask her about it later. Nanniton simply looked bored. I was beginning to suspect he didn't approve of the others decision to stay and tend to the cave.

"Yes, indeed," said Cassius. "However, as I was saying there are two things we can't figure out. Nanniton, would you be so kind as to bring the things up for us?"

"Sure," he grumbled with a yawn, and went through the basement door. We waited a few minutes, and then he came back up with two objects in his hand. One was a small round object, gold and metallic in color. The other was a small pair of binoculars. He handed me the binoculars, and Brooke the other object.

"Do you two know what these things are?"

"Yes," I said, "These are binoculars, they're used to see far away things as if they were closer."

Tsajadhi looked exited. "Yes, we saw that when we looked through them. It gave us a bit of a shock. You must tell me how they work."

"I…I'm not really sure," I said guiltily. "It has something to do with the way the glass inside is shaped, I think."

"Oh, I was expecting something different. I thought it might be a sign that your world had…"

"No, Tsajadhi," Cassius interrupted quickly. "Not yet, they can't take too much at once."

We all were quiet until Nanniton asked about the object he gave Brooke.

"Oh, I almost forgot about it," she said, "It looks like a compass to me. Its something we use to tell which direction we're headed. You see these letters? They mean north, south, east, and west. The needle should always point to north. I'm not sure you have the same kind of rules here, though. The needle is just spinning around."

"How fascinating"

"Yes, yes it is," Cassius said, "I'm sure were all hungry, though, why don't we eat dinner?"

Tsajadhi looked pleased. "Wonderful, shall I set the plates? I'm sure you two are famished."

I then realized how late it was. It was dark again, and I could see the smaller moon hanging in the sky above the field. I was starving, and for the first time I noticed the aroma of meat and something else hanging in the air. Tsajadhi quickly put several plates on the small circular table. Brooke and I walked over and sat down. On the plates there was a large piece of meat, several berries, and a delicious looking baked potato. After Cassius, Nanniton, and Tsajadhi sat down we all started to eat. The food was delicious. I discovered that the berries were some kind of blueberry; at least they tasted like them. The meat tasted like beef, but I couldn't be sure.

"Is it good?" asked Cassius

"Yes, it's incredible." I said between mouthfuls. "Before, Tsajadhi, you were about to say something. I really do think we can handle whatever it is. We have been through so much already."

"I don't know," she said. "Cassius, what do you think?"

"I think that if they believe they are ready, then they are. Go ahead and tell them."

"Alright. Now, children, in the many differences between our two worlds, there is one that stands out. I believe it is the one factor that truly separates our lands. You see, in our world, we have magic. It manifests in many ways, from simple things like the magic of certain plants to the most complicated spells that only master wizards can cast. Everything in our world has some amount of magic in it, although it usually only manifests in creatures, or powerful enchanted objects. Every person in this world is capable of performing some magic, but some people, me included, have devoted their lives to studying and practicing spells and other aspects of the arcane. Do you two understand so far?"

We were both stunned. Magic, actual magic, was real here. Finally my unspoken questions about the incident with the glow-seeds were answered. It could be explained by what she said about certain plants giving magical properties. "Yes, I think we both understand." Then something struck me. "But we're not from this world. We can't do any of those things." The amazing feeling I had gotten thinking about what Tsajadhi had said was gone. Now there was a feeling not unlike jealousy. I looked at Brooke, who was staring at me.

She started to speak. "Zach, I…I didn't tell you at first, but... Remember the feeling we got when we first stepped in here?" I did, I could still feel the faint aftereffects from it, but I was completely used to it. "Well, Zach, when we were walking here I got to thinking about how it felt. I kept feeling I had this energy inside me, and I tried to get rid of it. That's when it happened."

I was getting anxious, "What happened?"

"I…I lifted my hand, and I pointed it at this butterfly that was flying a few feet away. I sort of…I tried to imagine the energy just leaving me. Then I felt the tingle get worse. It started to burn, and then a thin wisp of fire just sort of shot out of my hand. It hit the butterfly and it was destroyed. I was going to tell you, but I just didn't know how."

I couldn't speak. What she was saying was amazing.

Tsajadhi spared me the effort of speaking first. "Why Brooke, that's incredible. To be able to cast a spell like that without any training or knowledge, not even I could do that. You will be a very accomplished spell caster, that much is apparent." Brooke blushed and thanked Tsajadhi.

"Now," Tsajadhi continued, "You said something about a feeling when you first left the cave?"

"Yes, it was like a stream of energy flowing into me, and afterwards I felt like I told you, as if I had a great energy within me, waiting to be let out."

"Zach, did you feel the same thing?" Tsajadhi then turned to me.

"Well, sort of. I know what she means when she says the energy flowed into us, but afterwards it wasn't so much like it wanted to get out. It felt more like everything had become clearer, and I felt powerful, but more like I could do whatever I wanted, like I could bend the world to my will."

Tsajadhi thought for a moment, and then spoke. "That is very interesting. You see, there are many different types of magic. Brooke, from your descriptions and your experience with the fire, I would venture that you will be skilled with direct magic, like destruction, or other energy oriented spells. Zach, I think you will be skilled in the more manipulative magic, things like mysticism or illusion. Why don't you try to do something right now?

I was suddenly apprehensive about this. "Well, what do you want me to try and do?"

She placed a jug of water on the table. "Concentrate on this, and just try and direct some energy to it. What will happen won't matter; it's just a test to see if I'm right."

I looked around. Cassius and Nanniton were watching with interest. Brooke was looking at me with a small smile. I looked at the jug.

I started to concentrate it. Almost immediately, I felt the tingling increase all over my body. All at once, the jug stood out in my vision. I could see every tiny crack and imperfection on its surface. More importantly, I could feel it in my vision. I could sense its weight, and feel its texture on my mind. Without thinking, I pushed the tingling forward to it.

It exploded. More accurately, it broke into hundreds of pieces that floated in a rough outline of the jug for a few seconds, and then fell.

Everyone just looked at the pieces that had fallen on the table. Then Nanniton started laughing, and eventually we all started. "That…that was very good Zach," Tsajadhi managed to chock out between bouts of laughter. "Maybe we should work on your control, but that was a pretty good telekinesis spell there."

I was surprised. Telekinesis was always something I had been fascinated about. Now I could actually use it, and apparently I could do much more. "Can you teach us how to do more?" I asked.

"Maybe tomorrow," commented Cassius. "It's been a long day, I'm sure everyone here could use a rest. Brooke, Zach, we have one extra bed in the basement, and one of you can have my bed. I will be leaving to go into town. I'm going to find a messenger to deliver a letter to Amelia. I think we should give her a few days warning before we come knocking on her door."

Although I was exited at the prospect of learning other ways to use my newfound magic, I was also immeasurably tired from a day of new universes, magic and long lost historical figures being brought back to life. I said goodnight to everyone, thanked them for all they had done, and headed downstairs, with Brooke following behind. The steps were narrow and steep. At the bottom there were a few lamps to light the small room. I looked for a match or something to light it with, but before I could find anything, the lamps flickered to life. I looked and saw Brooke standing in between them with her hands in either one.

She smiled sheepishly. "I thought I could use the practice. I'm definitely going to need it, and so will you."

I shook my head, amazed at how quickly she was warming to this place. I looked around the cramped basement and saw four beds, each with a small nightstand beside them and a chest at the foot. One was dusty and looked abandoned, the other three were neat. I took the dusty one, and after dusting it off, crawled into it. Brooke took the one next to me.

We started talking, as Tsajadhi and Nanniton had not come down yet. Now that the excitement of discovery had worn off, our situation was beginning to look bleak. We knew that our new friends would gladly take us in and care for us for a while, but how long until we overstayed our welcome? How long until we must go out on our own? The three were certainly going to make sure we would know all there is to know about this land, and make sure we could survive, but how could we possibly adapt to an entirely different world? These questions still paraded through my mind after Brooke drifted off to sleep. I got up and sat next to her. I gently caressed her hair and told her, "I'll take care of you. I'll make sure no harm ever comes to you, I'll never leave your side." I kissed her forehead, and went back to my bed and lay down.

When I reached the edge of sleep, I heard voices upstairs. At first they were just a low mumble, but as I concentrated, they became clearer. I took it as another aspect of the magic. I heard Nanniton arguing, presumably with Cassius. As I concentrated more, I could start to make out words.

"…not tell them? If they have any hope of surviving here, we need to make sure they know about everything! To leave out such a crucial point…well, they could die for your fear of giving them too much!"

"Silence, Nanniton! I will not be criticized for trying to keep these children happy! We haven't seen any sign of those men since the last attack! There is no reason to believe they are still around, and there is no reason to scare these children with tales of demons!"

I didn't understand. What had Cassius left out in the story? I made a quick decision to ask Cassius about it, whenever I got the chance.

Now I heard Tsajadhi's voice, struggling to be heard over the two men's rising voices. "Please, Cassius, Nanniton, there is no need for this!" Apparently her words had no effect. If anything, the arguing got louder. Suddenly I felt more then heard a rushing, and there was immediate silence from both of the men. I assumed Tsajadhi had silenced them magically. Then she spoke. She was quiet, so I couldn't make out the words, but I noticed something. Her voice seemed lower and smoother than when she was talking earlier. It seemed to have numerous layers, all talking at once. Even with no knowledge if it was even possible, I knew right away she was using a spell to calm them. After a minute or two of the strange talking, she stopped, and I heard a door shut, presumably Cassius leaving for the city. A few seconds later, the basement door opened, and Tsajadhi and Nanniton came down.

I peeked through my closed eyes to see Nanniton getting into bed, and Tsajadhi extinguishing the lamps. I noticed that in the dark, her eyes shone with a blue light. She came over to Brooke and I and seemed to watch us. After a minute, she went and got into the bed across the room from me. I waited to hear her breathing slow, then let my guard down and drifted to sleep. The last thing I thought was too keep my eyes peeled for any sign of strangeness from the Khajiit.


	5. Lessons

I awoke to the smell of cooking bacon. For an instant, I was back home, with Brooke making breakfast before she went off to work. I held onto the felling for a minute, and then let it fade behind reality. I opened my eyes to soft light in the almost empty basement. Getting up, I saw that Brooke and Nanniton had went upstairs, leaving me and Tsajadhi to rest.

I yawned and got out of the stiff bed. I quickly made it, not wanting to be rude. I contemplated waking Tsajadhi, but after remembering last night, I decided to exercise caution around her from now on. I stepped quietly between the small gap separating the ends of the beds, and made my way up the steps.

Upstairs the tantalizing smell was more intense, and again I thought of the many days where Brooke would make me breakfast and we would eat it together and laugh about the news on our small T.V. Realizing how sad the memories of our world were making me, I decided to devote my mental energy to thinking about learning the ways of Cyrodiil.

I saw Nanniton at the fire, shaking a skillet over it.. Brooke was sitting at the table with her head in her arms. I began to panic, thinking she was crying, but then I noticed her slowly rising back. She must have woken up too early and fallen asleep at the table, like she had done so many times before. I wished good morning to Nanniton, and then jostled Brooke awake.

She slowly lifted her head, and seeing me, smiled warmly. "Did you sleep well?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, I was very tired. I got up too early again, didn't I?" I laughed and said yes.

Remembering the strange way Tsajadhi had spoken to him and Cassius, I asked Nanniton how he slept last night. "Fine, fine." He mumbled. "I hope I didn't keep you awake with my snoring." I hadn't heard any snoring from him at all, and when I told him this he grunted once. Obviously he was not a morning person.

I gave him a few minutes to finish the bacon and put some on our plates, and then I asked him when he thought Cassius would be back. He thought for a moment then said, "It depends. He might decide to stay at an inn for the night, and in that case he could be as much as a few days. More likely, though, he found his messenger and headed straight back. If that's true, we can expect him as early as tonight.

I was glad; I didn't feel comfortable without Cassius here. He was the one who brought us here, and the one who we were most familiar with. I ignored my uneasiness though and kept talking with Nanniton. He gave us a quick geography lesson, showing us a map of Cyrodiil and pointing out all the major cities and landmarks, as well as mountain ranges and other areas.

I saw that we were near the edge of a large lake called Lake Rumare, in the centre of which stood the Imperial City, which Nanniton told us was the capital of all the empire. He pointed out Chorrol, the city where Amelia was supposed to be living. Other cities I saw were Bruma, to the north in the mountains, Cheydinhal, to the east, Bravil, near a large body of water called the Niben bay, Leyawiin, to the far south, Skingrad, on the edge of grassland, Kvatch, which apparently stood on a large plateau, and finally Anvil, a city on the shore of the Abecean Sea.

We also learned that Nanniton was from Kvatch, and his parents were still living there. He said that after we were ready to leave him and his friends, his parents would be happy to let Brooke and I stay in a guest room. I was relieved; I had been wondering where we could find a place to stay.

We listened while he told us about the sections of the Imperial City, including a large arena where people fought to the death, a market place, and in the center, the Emperor's palace, White Gold Tower. He told us how it was built by Ayleids, an ancient elven race that left ruins filled with magical objects all over the province.

Spellbound by his stories of Cyrodiil, none of us had noticed when Tsajadhi came up from the basement and helped herself to some of the food. She finally spoke up after Nanniton had finished. "With Cassius gone, Nanniton, do you think we should teach them about magic some more? They hardly got any experience last night." She winked at me, a gesture that seemed sinister rather than playful after hearing her put a spell on the two men.

"I completely agree. I think I should take Brooke out in the forest, where she can practice on trees and the like. You can take Zach, you know more about the magic he seems to be adept at."

No, I thought, I didn't want to be left alone with Tsajadhi, and I wasn't to comfortable with having Brooke go off into the forest with the gruff and grumpy Nanniton. I couldn't figure out how to avoid this, thought, and Brooke seemed happy enough to accept it. She was halfway through the door before I could even open my mouth to protest. I realized her eagerness to perform more feats of fire was overpowering her sense. I looked at Tsajadhi, who smiled and led me to the back door leading to the field. I wished Brooke good luck and she smiled back and said shed be fine, and not to worry.

Tsajadhi closed the door behind us and began a quick lecture.

"Zach, while it is impressive that you managed to perform magic on the jug last night, you can, as I'm sure you know, do so much more. With my teaching, you will eventually be able to move things with a thought, you will breath water, and you will even be able to alter your body to suit your needs. Let me demonstrate."

She closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and began to glow. It was the same kind of light I had gotten after eating the seeds, although it was harder to see in the daylight. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and with a little purple flash, the light disappeared. Then she raised her hand and disappeared. I gasped and jumped off the bench I had sat down on. I heard her voice from behind me. "I used my magic to become invisible, but there are ways you can still sense my presence. I want you to think about all the animals in the woods, and all the bugs in the air, and most off all, I want you to think of me, and imagine being able to see all of them, no matter where they are."

I did what she asked, and again felt the tingling come back. This time, though, I felt my eyes beginning to sharpen and feel warm. I started noticing a faint lavender mist in the air to my left. After several seconds the mist sharpened somewhat and formed into the shape of a human. "Tsajadhi, is that you I'm seeing?"

"Yes, what you are experiencing is a spell to detect living creatures around you. Look to the woods."

I did, and saw two or three beings of mist crawling along the ground. Looking closer, I recognized the creatures as rabbits. I noticed that even if the animals went behind a tree, I could see the mist remain in my vision. I turned back to Tsajadhi, but she had disappeared again. I looked towards the house and saw her mist-form behind the cottage. It was a strange sensation, to be able to see her shape as if the house wasn't there. I called to her, and she came back around, just as the mist faded away.

By this time, I had forgotten about the happenings last night in the joy of my newfound powers. "That was amazing, how are there dangers in this world with such abilities?"

She frowned, "Yes, Zach, this magic is powerful, and you are very unusual to be getting the grasp of it so early, but don't think that you are invincible. Many have died thinking that, and often violently. We should practice other things."

I had been sobered up by her statement, but felt a twinge of anticipation at the thought of learning more magic.

The rest of the day was spent learning to become partially invisible, only leaving a wavering outline in the air, something I was very fond of, learning how to breathe underwater and to walk on its surface, something that amused me to no end, and finally perfecting the ability to move things using my mind. This last lesson was the one I was most exited to learn, and I was full of joy when Tsajadhi informed me that I had found my signature magic, judging on how quickly I was learning. She said that if I practiced enough, I would easily overtake her in skill soon. I was stunned; I couldn't believe how quickly I was learning something so new.

Thing is, Tsajadhi noticed too, and I think she was jealous. She had gone through years of practice and learning, while I was getting the knack for magic within a few days. Suddenly I felt guilty for being so good. I told myself to tone it down next time. However, if I found any hint of trouble from her, I would be sure to call her on it right away.

After a few more practices with small things like making myself glow and getting rid of minor spells cast on me by Tsajadhi, she told me we were moving on to something different.

"I think you've got the hand of the most basic magic that you are comfortable with, but if you need to use your magic offensively, you need to learn some destruction spells."

"But I thought that that was Brooke's specialty?"

"It is, but you need to know at least a small bit, as I can't teach you how to wield a sword or anything like that. Don't worry its not going to be too hard. Just remember how Brooke described the feeling when she burned that butterfly, and try to imitate it."

She directed me t try it on a tree at the edge of the field. I got myself ready, then raised my hand and pointed it at the tree. I tried to imagine energy building up in my hand. I felt something, but instead of a burning sensation, I just felt a tense feeling, like my muscles had seized up. I tried more to get the feeling of power flowing out of me, and eventually I got a sense of wind rushing out of my hand, and I heard a thudding noise. I opened my eyes; I hadn't noticed I closed them. The tree I had been aiming at had small patches of ice on it, and around them lingered a soft blue glow.

I looked at Tsajadhi questioningly. She was looking at the tree with her head tilted to one side. "Well," she said, "that was a nice frost spell at least. I had thought you would procure fire, but I suppose you are more of a cold person."

"Is that normal?" I asked, thinking by her expression that something was wrong.

"Yes, some people have specialties regarding what their destruction magic comes out as. I expect Brooke will be able to do all equally, wither expertise in that area. You, with your focus in other areas, will most likely have problems with the other types of spells, like fire or lightning. It doesn't matter in the end, I suppose, whatever will hurt your opponent.

"Are you tired? We should go inside, Brooke and Nanniton are sure to be back soon. He wouldn't keep her in the forest after dark."

"Yes, let's go."

We headed inside, leaving behind the slowly darkening sky. Once we got inside, Tsajadhi went to the fireplace and lit a fire. By that point I wasn't surprised at all when she lit it by snapping her fingers. She sat down at the table and we talked about how we were going to get to Chorrol. She said we would make a stop in the Imperial City to get food and other necessities, and then hire a caravan or some other sort of transport to take us to the city.

It was almost completely dark when Brooke and Nanniton returned with a surprise. Brooke came in first, beaming. Nanniton followed, carrying a large boar over his back. He looked happy, for once.

Tsajadhi looked stunned. "You…where did you…" She stopped, and suddenly took on a furious expression. I was mystified until I looked at the boar. It had large burn marks on its side. "Nanniton! Did you…did she…?"

Brooke smiled even harder. "It came at us in the woods, and I just let everything out on it! It was amazing, wasn't it Nan?"

Nan? I wondered. Since when could we call him Nan? He didn't seem the type for nicknames. Before I could ask Tsajadhi started yelling.

"Nanniton! How could you let a teenage girl take out a boar by herself? She could have been hurt!"

"Hey, don't yell at me," he said, growing angry, "I didn't have a chance to react. She just screamed and when I turned around there was a flaming pig flying away."

"It…what do you mean flying?"

"Ask her."

We all turned to Brooke. She said, "I think I might have put a little too much power into it. Whoops." She kept smiling her small timid grin. Tsajadhi just looked at her with her mouth half-open.

She finally was able to speak, "I don't understand. It must have been one of your first times performing any magic, how could you possibly produce such a powerful flame?"

Nanniton said, "I think these kids are different, they seem to be quicker to adapt here. In addition to the basic destruction spells, I've also been able to teach Brooke some rudimentary summoning and even some healing magic." Before Tsajadhi had a chance to comment on this, he asked her how my lesson went.

"Oh, it went perfectly. He seems to have a solid intuition of illusion and alteration, as well as a talent for telekinesis."

Nanniton smiled at me. "Well, that's great. Did you try anything else?"

Before I could answer, there was a knock on the door. Cassius was back.


End file.
